Michael Chasen of Blackboard Dissects the EdTech Industry [VIDEO]

March 12, 2013

5:19 pm

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Blackboard is a name that many college students recognize – but in the past 16 years, the education giant has expanded beyond higher education. They actually provide products and services to the whole education industry, including K-12.

Michael Chasen cofounded Blackboard in 1997 and served as CEO for 15 years. In that time, he grew the company to over 3,000 employees in 21 offices worldwide. They acquired 22 competitors, raised over $103 million, and finally sold for a whopping $1.7 billion.

Now, he spends his time as an investor and advisor in education startups, continuing his quest to transform education through technology.

Chasentook some time during SXSW to talk about the education industry at our SXSW Startup Celebration sponsored by CEA and .CO. While he is seeing tons of innovation in edtech, he admitted that the pace of adoption is still slow – and offered some tips for entrepreneurs dealing with it. Here’s the video.

Tech Cocktail’s SXSW video series is part of the Tech Cocktail Conversations podcast – subscribe on iTunes.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Yappem, the title sponsor of Tech Cocktail’s special SXSW video series. And thank you to Keep America Beautiful, the supporting video sponsor.

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Kira M. Newman is a Tech Cocktail writer interested in the harsh reality of entrepreneurship, work-life balance, and psychology. She is the founder of The Year of Happy and has been traveling around the world interviewing entrepreneurs in Asia, Europe, and North America since 2011. Follow her @kiramnewman or contact kira@tech.co.